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I want to save an image (3-D text) as a transparent, interlaced GIF. The problem I am having is that I cannot get control over the final file size. PhotoImpact always creates a GIF of 5.3KB no matter what instructions I give in the “compress by size” dialogue. This file size is too small and the anti-aliasing is destroyed, producing a raggy finish. — I am running on Windows ‘95.
Helen
I want to save an image (3-D text) as a transparent, interlaced GIF. The problem I am having is that I cannot get control over the final file size. PhotoImpact always creates a GIF of 5.3KB no matter what instructions I give in the “compress by size” dialogue. This file size is too small and the anti-aliasing is destroyed, producing a raggy finish. — I am running on Windows ‘95.
Helen
Hi Helen, sorry that no one has been along to answer your question here...but...hopefully someone with the expertise on this subject will be along soon. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
There could be several reasons why your text looks raggedy. This can happen when anti-aliasing is turned off. In addition, some fonts are not as smooth as they could be and this really shows up when the font is used to make an image file. I'm not sure why you're not getting the file size you wish in "compress by size." In the Desired Size dropdown, are you selecting the correct option (bytes or kb), then clicking the Start button? If you're sure you're doing everything correctly, you might want to check with Ulead tech support.
Problems in creating transparent background always bring out my rant about their utility. I think it's much better to create images on the same color or texture that you'll be using on the web page. Rarely do I see a transparent GIF that's successful on any background. But this is just my opinion. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Stephanie's PhotoImpact Tutorials
Thanks for your help, Stephanie. I believe I was doing everything correctly, and certainly the anti-aliasing was on — I checked that — several times!
It seems to me I have hit a bug because of my operating system. The O.S. is something I shall tackle shortly, anyway. I’ll try tech support — I hope that they now allow UK people like me to use the American support dept: corresponding with German speakers isn’t easy.
If I placed the text image on a patch of background, I would have to align the patch perfectly in this case — somehow! Transparency is a much simpler solution. What you say, about the raggedness showing up when you make an image file, is interesting: the text looked perfect as a UFO. As a transparent GIF, the ragged appearence is not just on the outside of certain letters, but inside as well, where the basic colour and 3-D shading meet.
Helen
Hi Helen, could/would you post an example for us to see ? Perhaps if we saw the actual file with background as well the transparent, then we would have a better idea of exactly what's going on... [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Thanks. Forgive the delay — I just came back and read this on the 18th. I’ve been reading the online transparency tutorial today, and have begun to experiment. I am getting the impression that the option of starting off with a transparent background to create on, is a no no! — Which begs the question 'why does the program offer that option?” When I did things the longer way around — creating over a colour then making it transparent — it WAS possible to increase the file size, and as I did so a halo of the background colour was retained. The books instructed me to use the remove background method as well, but I couldn’t see the point when the program offered a way of avoiding having a background in the first place. It will take me some days to assess all this.
I have been having great fun with the addictive frames gallery, and have discovered that using one of the edges or magic frames opens up the option of putting my homepage photo on a plain ground anyway, avoiding the need for transparency. — It is a special photo, but difficult to display to best advantage.
Helen
Using transparent backgrounds isn't necessarily a no-no but the image should be made on the background colour the same as your webpage ... then select that colour as transparent in the gif optimizer. If you make it on a white page and then make that page colour transparent, it will show a jagged light border when you place it on your black webpage (or whatever colour).
Your text has this ragged appearance in holes within letters like B or O because it's made the colour that was in there transparent. The problem is that the antialiasing of the text was a blend of some pixels near the text edge between the text colour and the colour of the background on which it was made. When you save it as a transparent gif, the gif retains some of these edge pixels which if placed on a different webpage background colour , may be obviously different. You could take out these colours but be left with the jagged "staircase" edge to your text boundary. This is the whole problem with transparent gifs ... no matter what programs people use to make them.
I would go so far as to say transparent gifs are not usually desired just because they can look pretty bad when they have that edge.
David K ... www.dkingdesign.com http://www.dkingdesign.com/stuff/signature.jpg